Social Investment Breakthrough Project report
The Social Investment Breakthrough project has taken place in Sheffield City Region and has been delivered by a partnership between Groundwork South Yorkshire and social enterprise advisor, Morgan Killick, of Level Up Solutions Ltd.
It has been funded by the Connect Fund, which is a £3 million fund for grants and investments that The Barrow Cadbury Trust manages in partnership with Access – the Foundation for Social Investment.
The purpose of Social Investment Breakthrough was to boost demand for social investment amongst smaller voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and to increase the supply of suitable social investment products. In this respect it aspired to influence both sides of the market – supply (i.e. social investors) and demand (i.e. VCSE organisations/potential social investees).
An evaluation and report have demonstrated positive conclusions:
‘It was conspicuous how positive the interviewees were about their experience of the programme. Clearly, the participating VCSE organisations have received excellent, bespoke, person-centred support that has markedly helped to move them on as organisations, not only moving them closer to social investment, but helping them to think strategically – as one interviewee aptly summarised it, ‘It has made me think outside of the box and given us a different perspective.’